Dead Zone (McShep, PG-13)
Title: Dead Zone
Notes: For summercon's Blame Someone Else Challenge. I got tahariel's request: Someone on Atlantis develops the power to see the past when they touch things, including people. Nothing is secret! (Obv. useful for Ancient Artifacts, though.)
~~~
Dead Zone
The artefact gave a little buzz, shocking John's fingers in the process, then it went dead in John's hand.
"Did it do anything?" Rodney wanted to know.
"Well, my fingertips are numb."
"Huh. Okay, next one."
They threw it into the box marked 'broken', and forgot about it.
~~~
It started with Elizabeth's pen. She dropped it, John leaned down to pick it up, and when his fingertips brushed it-
-a man, short, dark, hair. Handsome. Handing him the pen in an expensive-looking gift box, reaching around a candle to do so. Romantic setting, expensive dishes. Dinner for two. "Happy anniversary, Elizabeth," he smiled, and he opened his mouth to say-
"John?"
"What?" He looked up, fingers hovering over the pen, looking into Elizabeth's concerned face.
"Is everything all right? You just… froze."
"I-" John started, and didn't know what to say. 'I saw your boyfriend.' "I think I'll go see Beckett," he managed instead, because even if he didn't know what had happened just now, he knew that something was wrong.
~~~
Jumping onto the infirmary bed turned out to be a very, very bad idea. John had a split-second to realise this, then-
-a young woman, barely more than a child, screaming in agony at the part of scaffolding that had pierced her abdomen. An older woman, crying when she was handed her first son. A man, coughing and asking for something against his headache. A child, skin wrinkled way past its age, recounting the tale of a creature sucking the life right from its chest. Dying women, dying men, war, bloodtearsagonyscreaming-
"Colonel!" Beckett's hand holding his arm in a painful grip, pulling him back into himself. Sighing in relief as John met his worried gaze with a confused one of his own. "You want to tell me what happened just now?"
"I'm…" John swallowed. "I think I can see the past when I touch something."
"Now, that's an unusual one. Did you activate any strange devices recently?"
"McKay and I have been testing Ancient tech all week."
"Dear Lord." Beckett muttered to himself before activating his radio. "Rodney? I need you to come to the infirmary, now."
He patted John's arm in a reassuring manner.
"Don't worry, son, we'll have this figured out in no time."
~~~
They didn't. And with everything John touched, it got worse, showing him not only the item's history from an objective standpoint, but more and more of the past owner's emotions. It got so bad that he couldn't even hold a fork without seeing it packed away, or being cleaned, or in the hand of another one, and then it started with people. He just had to brush someone's hand to know every bit there was to know about them, and it was equal parts horrifying and embarrassing, until Rodney and Zelenka bastardised a peculiar piece of Ancient equipment to act like a temporary off switch. John didn't quite get how it was supposed to work, but he didn't have to - Rodney said it would help him, that was a good enough reason to reach out and take it.
Blessed nothing.
"It doesn't eliminate the cause, though, only the symptoms," Rodney quickly admonished when John flashed him a relieved grin, but he grinned back.
Now they only had to figure out the source, then everything could go back to normal.
~~~
It was strange, but now that John could more or less choose the things he wanted to know more about, he got curious. If he could control it, there wasn't a better way to learn something about the people he worked with, about his friends. John liked that thought. He'd had enough upsetting encounters not to touch a person anymore, deciding it'd be much safer to stick to items instead.
So he carefully took one of Teyla's sticks, marvelling once again at its simple beauty, switched off the device-
-her father smiling proudly at her when Charin told him she had done well in her lessons so far, well enough to earn her own set of taibata. Feeling her own eyes widening as her father handed her the carefully wrapped weapons she knew had belonged to her mother, telling her, "do them honour," and she would, she would-
Teyla clearing her throat behind him jolted him out of it, and he could feel himself blush as he handed her the stick. She threw him a reproaching look, but didn't comment.
He still got her an extra helping of caramel pudding that evening.
Ronon's stuff was kind of out of the question after that, at least judging by the dark expression on the Satedan's face. Too bad.
There was a statue on Rodney's desk, though, some award or other that had almost been lost in the chaos after the Wraith siege, until Rodney's frantic searching had infected the rest of his department and somebody had dug it up from behind a broken monitor. It seemed to be important, and after making sure he was alone in the lab, John picked it up, and it was-
-already dripping with his blood, his arm a sharp pain where it had broken skin and bone alike, but his father was swinging it for the next strike, "didn't you fuck up my life enough already, you fucking fag?!" and it came down again in a perfect arc, his jaw breaking with a crunching sound-
"Jesus!" John let go of the award like he had been burned, and it dropped to the floor, rolling until it bounced against… McKay's boots. The scientist's eyes were narrowed as he looked up and fixed his gaze on John.
"I suppose this would be the moment where I say, 'don't worry, I hacked into your records, so I guess we're even.'"
John swallowed. "Right. That would be it."
"Well, I didn't hack into your records, because, see, there's this thing, what's it's name, oh yes: 'privacy'. Foolishly, I respected that."
"Look, Rodney," but the apology wasn't any more forthcoming than it had been on previous occasions, so John chose the next best thing. "Why the hell are you even keeping that thing, anyway?"
"To remind myself that family isn't something one is born into," Rodney answered in a short, clipped manner, his face as angry as John had ever seen it.
Damn.
~~~
In the end, it took John almost dying before Rodney forgave him. There had been a situation offworld, and John had been forced to demonstrate their god-like powers to the impressionable natives to convince them they were superior to the Wraith, so he'd touched something, and his brain had gone on vacation for a while.
He'd heard the words 'surgery' and 'almost the size of a baby's fist', and decided he didn't even want to know. But when he woke up in the infirmary, his head fuzzy and his mouth dry, Rodney was there, thoughtfully sucking John's ice chips while frowning at his laptop.
"You're lucky, you know," Rodney said conversationally, not even looking up, "other people would have died at least half a dozen times during the last twelve hours, but Colonel Sheppard once again pulls through." He did little to hide his relief.
There was a variety of things John could have answered, from 'what happened' to 'don't eat my ice chips', but what came out instead was a croaked, "You never told me you were gay."
Rodney shot him a sharp look.
"Is that important?" he wanted to know, his body language not quite casual.
John shrugged, playing it cool although his heart was pounding.
"Depends."
Another sharp look, then Rodney visibly relaxed. A small smile played around his lips as he reached for the small cup of ice chips.
"Want one?"
~~~
End.
Notes: For summercon's Blame Someone Else Challenge. I got tahariel's request: Someone on Atlantis develops the power to see the past when they touch things, including people. Nothing is secret! (Obv. useful for Ancient Artifacts, though.)
~~~
Dead Zone
The artefact gave a little buzz, shocking John's fingers in the process, then it went dead in John's hand.
"Did it do anything?" Rodney wanted to know.
"Well, my fingertips are numb."
"Huh. Okay, next one."
They threw it into the box marked 'broken', and forgot about it.
~~~
It started with Elizabeth's pen. She dropped it, John leaned down to pick it up, and when his fingertips brushed it-
-a man, short, dark, hair. Handsome. Handing him the pen in an expensive-looking gift box, reaching around a candle to do so. Romantic setting, expensive dishes. Dinner for two. "Happy anniversary, Elizabeth," he smiled, and he opened his mouth to say-
"John?"
"What?" He looked up, fingers hovering over the pen, looking into Elizabeth's concerned face.
"Is everything all right? You just… froze."
"I-" John started, and didn't know what to say. 'I saw your boyfriend.' "I think I'll go see Beckett," he managed instead, because even if he didn't know what had happened just now, he knew that something was wrong.
~~~
Jumping onto the infirmary bed turned out to be a very, very bad idea. John had a split-second to realise this, then-
-a young woman, barely more than a child, screaming in agony at the part of scaffolding that had pierced her abdomen. An older woman, crying when she was handed her first son. A man, coughing and asking for something against his headache. A child, skin wrinkled way past its age, recounting the tale of a creature sucking the life right from its chest. Dying women, dying men, war, bloodtearsagonyscreaming-
"Colonel!" Beckett's hand holding his arm in a painful grip, pulling him back into himself. Sighing in relief as John met his worried gaze with a confused one of his own. "You want to tell me what happened just now?"
"I'm…" John swallowed. "I think I can see the past when I touch something."
"Now, that's an unusual one. Did you activate any strange devices recently?"
"McKay and I have been testing Ancient tech all week."
"Dear Lord." Beckett muttered to himself before activating his radio. "Rodney? I need you to come to the infirmary, now."
He patted John's arm in a reassuring manner.
"Don't worry, son, we'll have this figured out in no time."
~~~
They didn't. And with everything John touched, it got worse, showing him not only the item's history from an objective standpoint, but more and more of the past owner's emotions. It got so bad that he couldn't even hold a fork without seeing it packed away, or being cleaned, or in the hand of another one, and then it started with people. He just had to brush someone's hand to know every bit there was to know about them, and it was equal parts horrifying and embarrassing, until Rodney and Zelenka bastardised a peculiar piece of Ancient equipment to act like a temporary off switch. John didn't quite get how it was supposed to work, but he didn't have to - Rodney said it would help him, that was a good enough reason to reach out and take it.
Blessed nothing.
"It doesn't eliminate the cause, though, only the symptoms," Rodney quickly admonished when John flashed him a relieved grin, but he grinned back.
Now they only had to figure out the source, then everything could go back to normal.
~~~
It was strange, but now that John could more or less choose the things he wanted to know more about, he got curious. If he could control it, there wasn't a better way to learn something about the people he worked with, about his friends. John liked that thought. He'd had enough upsetting encounters not to touch a person anymore, deciding it'd be much safer to stick to items instead.
So he carefully took one of Teyla's sticks, marvelling once again at its simple beauty, switched off the device-
-her father smiling proudly at her when Charin told him she had done well in her lessons so far, well enough to earn her own set of taibata. Feeling her own eyes widening as her father handed her the carefully wrapped weapons she knew had belonged to her mother, telling her, "do them honour," and she would, she would-
Teyla clearing her throat behind him jolted him out of it, and he could feel himself blush as he handed her the stick. She threw him a reproaching look, but didn't comment.
He still got her an extra helping of caramel pudding that evening.
Ronon's stuff was kind of out of the question after that, at least judging by the dark expression on the Satedan's face. Too bad.
There was a statue on Rodney's desk, though, some award or other that had almost been lost in the chaos after the Wraith siege, until Rodney's frantic searching had infected the rest of his department and somebody had dug it up from behind a broken monitor. It seemed to be important, and after making sure he was alone in the lab, John picked it up, and it was-
-already dripping with his blood, his arm a sharp pain where it had broken skin and bone alike, but his father was swinging it for the next strike, "didn't you fuck up my life enough already, you fucking fag?!" and it came down again in a perfect arc, his jaw breaking with a crunching sound-
"Jesus!" John let go of the award like he had been burned, and it dropped to the floor, rolling until it bounced against… McKay's boots. The scientist's eyes were narrowed as he looked up and fixed his gaze on John.
"I suppose this would be the moment where I say, 'don't worry, I hacked into your records, so I guess we're even.'"
John swallowed. "Right. That would be it."
"Well, I didn't hack into your records, because, see, there's this thing, what's it's name, oh yes: 'privacy'. Foolishly, I respected that."
"Look, Rodney," but the apology wasn't any more forthcoming than it had been on previous occasions, so John chose the next best thing. "Why the hell are you even keeping that thing, anyway?"
"To remind myself that family isn't something one is born into," Rodney answered in a short, clipped manner, his face as angry as John had ever seen it.
Damn.
~~~
In the end, it took John almost dying before Rodney forgave him. There had been a situation offworld, and John had been forced to demonstrate their god-like powers to the impressionable natives to convince them they were superior to the Wraith, so he'd touched something, and his brain had gone on vacation for a while.
He'd heard the words 'surgery' and 'almost the size of a baby's fist', and decided he didn't even want to know. But when he woke up in the infirmary, his head fuzzy and his mouth dry, Rodney was there, thoughtfully sucking John's ice chips while frowning at his laptop.
"You're lucky, you know," Rodney said conversationally, not even looking up, "other people would have died at least half a dozen times during the last twelve hours, but Colonel Sheppard once again pulls through." He did little to hide his relief.
There was a variety of things John could have answered, from 'what happened' to 'don't eat my ice chips', but what came out instead was a croaked, "You never told me you were gay."
Rodney shot him a sharp look.
"Is that important?" he wanted to know, his body language not quite casual.
John shrugged, playing it cool although his heart was pounding.
"Depends."
Another sharp look, then Rodney visibly relaxed. A small smile played around his lips as he reached for the small cup of ice chips.
"Want one?"
~~~
End.